BY NKECHNECHHE OGINYI
The Government of Ebonyi state has been enjoined to work with relevant stakeholders including the media to ensure enforcement and implementation of laws on ending gender based violence which is prevalence in the state.
Centre for Communication and Social Impact, (CCSI) for driving the course of communication strategy, engaged media practitioners on strategic planning to end gender based violence in the state recently.
The 3-day workshop to contextualize the National Communication Strategy on ending Violence against women and girls in Ebonyi State was organized by the Ebonyi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in collaboration with the CCSI and with support from the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative.
Speaking at the workshop, Loveth Omeje Ugwuanyi, a social behavioral change Consultant for Communication and Center Social Impact said the organization want to know how to eliminate all the harmful practices against any gender in the state.
She said their focus was on four main area which is GBV, sexual assault, emotional and others.
She noted that rape, FGM, child marriage and teenage pregnancy, are critical as they are common in Ebonyi state.
She noted that the government collaborating with the media as GBV drivers, will create awareness on GBV and the existing laws.
Stating: "What role will government play, government as you know is the policy maker. Do we even have any law guiding GBV survivors? If there is such law in the state are we actually enforcing it? Enforcement is the key because I think every government has this law in their states so I plead that the government should work with civil society organizations and the stakeholders in the communities including the religious and traditional leaders and most importantly the media people.
"Media is very key because with the media you can create awareness because some people are undergoing GBV but they don't know that it is GBV. The survivors don't know when and where to report, so government should create an enabling environment especially for the police, the ministry of health to accommodate the media because the media has been sidelined. A lot of abuses, GBV cases are been swept under the carpet but if the media is allowed to work with the technical group and other groups created by the government they will go along way to create awareness, tell people where to source for free medical care, numbers to call and report issues and where to seek Justice against the perpetrators.
"So government should make the policies efficient and create enabling environment to work with relevant stakeholders to eliminate GBV which is eating deep in the society.
Also, Mr. Victor Emeruwa, CCSI Communication Specialist in his contribution decried the increasing rate of GBV despite the awareness campaign.
He challenged Ebonyi state government to increase effort on ending the act to meet up with SDG target in 2030.
"The government should address all the issues involved in GBV. It is not just to have a law it behooves on the government to implement the law.
"It is a challenge for the government to respond and implement the law.
"If the government want to stop child marriage it's not by legislation it is by having fact.
"The 9 years left is a big opportunity for the government to work with international agencies who are ready to work with them on GBV.
"GBV is increasing daily, women and men are been abused and they are not coming out so we want an integrated response from all the stakeholders, from the media, government, all the international agencies, all the essential stakeholders that are involved to ensure elimination of gender-based violence.
"The shared vision according to SDG is to see that we eliminate GBV by 2030, we are 9 years to that year and we are trying to find coordination, a national communication strategy that will allow each stakeholder to know how to respond to allow the government to know how to implement the law, to allow the community people know how to respond, to allow survivors know how to report, assure the survivor that when you report, you are protected so we want the stakeholders to come together and know how to end GBV and all forms of harmful practices against women and girls .
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Ebonyi State, Mrs. Chinyere Okah, said that development of the National Communication Strategy on ending violence and harmful practices against women and girls was apt.
Okah, said that the state success story was as a result of the synergy existing between state government, civil society organizations, community based organizations, media among other partners.
She maintained that women in the state were alert to their rights and would not relent in the fight to end violence against women.
Mrs. Okah, commended the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) for driving the course of communication strategy
Representative of UNFPA, Benedict Esong, noted that it was a transformative agenda of UNFPA on implementing maternal death, family planning and GBV including FGM and other harmful practices, adding that UNFPA target was to ensure that no woman was been violated on the ground of gender.
He appealed to stakeholders to join UNFPA to achieve a society where every child is safe.
